When Qiao Silang returned to the shop, the shopkeeper Wang Fu came up to him and asked, "Proprietor, what happened?"
"Why!"
Qiao Silang sighed and said: "The Municipal Administration just announced the King of Jin's order and it is not allowed to transport grain and salt to Luoyang. What will happen to our batch of salt?"
Qiao Silang had just purchased five hundred pieces of rock salt and was preparing to transport it to Luoyang. The ban was suddenly issued. Wouldn't this batch of salt be thrown into his hands?
The Chang'an court purchased unlimited amounts of salt. As long as you bought it at the price of one hundred and forty coppers per dou, the more you bought, the higher the court's tax, which of course the court wanted.
The question is, is the court now selling salt to Zhu Si at a price of 500 wen per dou, or is it coarse salt in order to push up the salt price in Luoyang? Under the exaggeration of the newspapers, the high salt price has become ironclad evidence that Zhu Si is exploiting the people.
, which greatly strengthened Guo Song's sense of identity in the hearts of the people.
In fact, Zhu Si bought it for 500 penny per dou, then converted it into new money and sold it to the people at a ratio of one to two. He didn't make a penny, but he was blamed for exploiting the people.
However, the power of public opinion is in the hands of two newspapers, "Tianxia Xinbao" and "Kyoto Express", and the right of discourse is also in the hands of Guo Song. Without the right of discourse, Zhu Si became a stepping stone for Guo Song to ascend to power.
These high-level machinations are beyond the imagination of a small figure like Qiao Shilang.
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At this time, the shopkeeper rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Proprietor, I have an idea!"
"any solution?"
"The proprietor can transport a batch of wine to Luoyang, but only a few tanks contain wine, and the rest are brine!"
Qiao Shilang's eyes lit up, "You mean, dissolve the salt into water and transport it there?"
"That's what it means!"
Qiao Silang took a few steps with his hands behind his back. Although there were risks involved, if his fortune did not go to Luoyang, the superiors would not spare him.
"Okay! This time I will personally escort the ship."
Early the next morning, Qiao Silang went to the city office to issue a tax certificate and paid a 5% tax. The imperial court was no longer exempt from commercial tax as before. It needed to collect a 5% commercial tax, which was 5%. Usually when shipping
Pay taxes everywhere, the tax certificate is your passport, you don’t have to pay taxes no matter where you go.
But Qiao Silang was very cunning. The destination on his tax certificate was not Luoyang, but Puyang. In this way, if he was caught on the road, he could firmly deny that it was shipped to Luoyang.
Qiao Silang successfully obtained the tax certificate and began to make preparations. Three days later, his five hundred large bottles of wine were loaded onto five thousand-rock cargo ships. Qiao Silang personally escorted the ships and sailed towards Puyang along the Yellow River.
A few days later, five large ships sailed out of Tianbao Canal and entered the Yellow River. This was an artificial canal, and there were trackers pulling fiber on the plank road. Qiao Silang lived on the first ship, and there were three men with him.
Although the journey was smooth, Qiao Silang was still a little restless. The boatman saw his uneasiness and said with a smile: "What is the proprietor worried about? It's not going to Luoyang. Besides, even if it goes to Luoyang, wine is not a contraband, it is a normal trade!"
The imperial court allows it.”
Qiao Shilang smiled bitterly and said: "Although it is not contraband, I am always a little worried, afraid of being patrolled and looking for trouble!"
"It's not bad! I've been transporting people for so many years. His Highness the King of Jin seems to be very tolerant of merchants and never asks for trouble. He didn't even do interrogations before, but recently he has been very strict in checking contraband. I once picked up a merchant, and he
I secretly transported 10,000 kilograms of pig iron to Luoyang, and I was as nervous as the owner is now."
"What's the result?" Qiao Shilang asked.
"As we approached the mouth of the Luoshui River in Gong County, we were intercepted and arrested. We also had 10,000 kilograms of pig iron! I probably wouldn't survive either."
The boatman's words made Qiao Shilang's heart even heavier.
Things in this world tend to be just what you are afraid of. When the ship arrived at Fenglingdu, a guard patrol ship appeared on the river. The patrol ship was randomly inspected.
A patrol boat gradually approached the cargo ship.
"Where are you going? Do you have a tax certificate?" asked a guard soldier on the ship.
Qiao Silang hurriedly handed over the tax certificate and said: "We are going to Puyang!"
The inner guard soldier looked at the tax certificate and said with a smile: "Can I make money by transporting wine all the way to Puyang?"
"There is an epidemic in Puyang. Rumor has it that wine can prevent the epidemic, so wine is very expensive and profitable!"
"That's true, there is indeed such a rumor."
The guard soldier returned the tax certificate to him, waved his hand and said, "Let's go!"
The five cargo ships continued to move forward, and Qiao Shilang breathed a long sigh of relief. He didn't expect that the inspection was so simple, and he didn't even get on the ship.
The boatman smiled and said, "That's what I said! Usually you won't cause trouble."
On this day, five large ships arrived at the mouth of the Luoshui River, where the Luoshui River flows into the Yellow River. This is where they should turn when going to Luoyang.
The boatman was very reluctant. He only knew last night that he was going to Luoyang to unload a batch of goods. He vaguely guessed that Qiao Silang had a problem, otherwise he would not have issued a false certificate from Puyang. However, since the other party offered him double the boat fee, he didn't care.
.
The five cargo ships turned and slowly sailed into Luoshui. This was actually Zhu Si's territory, but Zhu Si had no navy anymore, and the entire water surface was dominated by the Jin army.
At this moment, a guard fleet rushed out instantly and intercepted them.
More than a dozen internal guards jumped onto the ship, and the leading brigade commander asked sternly: "Where is the owner of the cargo?"
Qiao Shilang's face turned pale with fright. He knew that he was trapping himself and letting the other party hold the handle, but at this time he had no choice but to step forward and salute: "The villain is the owner of the goods!"
"Tax certificate!" The leading interior guard brigade commander stretched out his hand to him.
Qiao Silang had no choice but to take out the tax certificate and hand it over. The brigade commander of the Internal Guard took the tax certificate and looked at it. He raised his eyebrows and said, "What's the matter with you? The tax certificate goes to Puyang, but you have to turn around and go to Luoyang?"
"The villain's goods are going to Puyang, because my father is in Yanshi and he fell ill. I stopped by to see him."
It seems to make sense, but the inner guards here are not reasonable people. The inner guard brigade commander pointed his knife and ordered the boatman: "Open the cargo hold!"
How could the boatman dare to resist the order? He quickly stepped forward and took out the key to open the hatch. The guard soldier opened the hatch and two soldiers jumped in. There were three layers of large wine vats densely packed below, with hundreds of large wine vats.
The vat can hold at least 150 kilograms of wine and is fixed very securely.
Each wine vat is sealed and has a thick layer of wine sludge on the outside, making it look like a vat of wine.
However, these interior guard soldiers were all very experienced. As soon as they entered the cabin, they discovered that something was wrong. There should be a strong smell of alcohol in the cargo hold, but in fact, the smell of alcohol in the cargo hold was very weak.
The two inner guard soldiers looked at each other. They took out a long and thin copper rod with a sharp end. With a sound of "Puff!", the copper rod was inserted into the wine vat. They took out the copper rod and licked the tip with their tongues.
Sting, the two of them instantly understood that it was not wine, but highly concentrated brine, which was actually salt.
"Commander Brigade, what's in the vat is not wine, it's salt brine!"
Qiao Shilang had already prepared a bag of silver, which amounted to a hundred taels. He quickly handed it to the brigade commander, "This is a little thought, General, take it for a cup of tea!"
The brigade commander took the money bag, weighed it, and said coldly: "This must be worth a hundred taels of silver! If I let you go, I will lose my head. Isn't it too cheap to buy my head for a hundred taels of silver?"
He threw the money bag on the ground and ordered: "Tie it up!"
The soldiers swarmed up, knocked down Qiao Shilang and three of his men and tied them up. Qiao Shilang shouted: "I have not broken the law, you can't arrest me!"
The brigade commander knelt down and said coldly: "The King of Jin has just issued a strict order not to transport salt to Luoyang. If you have five hundred bags of salt in your cabin and it is clearly written on the tax certificate that you are transporting salt to Luoyang, then we will not arrest you."
, they won’t even confiscate your goods and return them to you when they arrive in Chang’an. But you lied and tried to hide it, showing that you knew about the prohibition. Then you knew the law and broke the law. Fortunately, you didn’t resist, otherwise I would chop you into pieces. Now you go
Guard, please explain!"
The brigade commander waved his hand and said, "Take them away!"
He then said to the boatman: "Send the goods back to Chang'an immediately. Let me warn you for the first time. If you see you transporting contraband to Luoyang again, you will be guilty of the same crime!"
The leading boatman was so frightened that he dared not fart, so he quickly turned around and returned to Chang'an.